In the days since my Forbes cover story on Spanx creator Sara Blakely was published, readers have been writing, tweeting, and commenting with questions about the youngest self-made woman on our latest World's Billionaires list and her $1 billion invention.
While a handful of these emails have been of the "Will Sara marry me?" variety (for the record: no), the vast majority have expressed amazement that Blakely, 41, grew her undergarment empire without any outside investment, debt, or even a cent spent on traditional advertising: no magazine spends, no TV spots, no billboard buys.
When I spent some time with Blakely in Atlanta a few months back, she and company CEO Laurie Ann Goldman told me how Spanx grew from a one-product wonder to a household name without shelling out on ads:
1. Word of mouth worked better.
When Blakely was still selling Spanx out of her Decatur, Ga. apartment in white Office Depot envelopes, advertising wasn't a priority, namely because there was no way she could afford it. When she started Spanx in her twenties, word of mouth wasn't so much a strategy as a necessity. But today, even with the brand's incredible success, Goldman insists the company still won't advertise, even though they could now afford every billboard in Times Square.
"We've been self-funded from the beginning," Goldman said. "We had to spend money only on things that make money and advertising was esoteric. You couldn't really measure the return you were going to get so we didn't do it. The power of women discovering the brand from other women was actually a better strategy. The aunt telling her niece; one woman to a college friend. There's something about saying, 'look, feel my back, no lines' that's powerful. Look at how big social media has become now. People trust advice."
In the New York flagship Bloomingdale's on 59th Street, Spanx has an "in-store shop", as they call it: a store within a store, all very on-message with the company's trademark bright pinks and reds and candy jars and lava lamps. The brand's reliance on word of mouth and woman-to-woman advice is evident in just a few minutes browsing the racks. A twentysomething student stops in because she admired a friend's smooth derriere at yoga class in the brand's $118 'Power Pants'. An older lady with a Margaret Thatcher bouffant has been sent by her daughter to try the footless pantyhouse, Spanx's first ever product, still a hit almost 12 years on.
2. Their packaging did the talking.
In Spanx's early days -- and today, to a lesser extent -- the brand's cherry-red, cartoon-adorned packaging was crucial in setting the brand apart from its competitors in the beige hinterland of the lingerie floor, where bored-looking women gaze out from a neutral-colored pantyhose packet, maybe stroking a leg. Blakely knew early on that, without advertising, she needed to attract attention on the racks themselves. Blakely cut out eyes, noses and ears from magazines, figuring out how she'd like her cartoon alter ego to look. Today, blonde, pony-tailed Sunny is still the brand's 'mascot', although she'd had a few makeovers since 2000.
Blakely also abhorred the way she felt lingerie companies talked down to women in their marketing. "I literally was writing things on the packaging how I'd tell a girlfriend," she said. "It wasn't saying, 'it's the sheerest of the sheerest most sheer elegance.' Just, 'it makes your butt look better.'"
Spanx products are all given cutesy, wink-wink names like Bra-llelujah and Tight-End Tights. And Blakely was sure not to waste any of the packaging's excess material. Each cardboard insert is a comic strip, "like in Bazooka bubblegum", Blakely says -- partly an outlet for her stand-up comedy, one of many pre-Spanx gigs, and partly to encourage women to collect 'em all. One insert for bridal shapewear shows the bride-to-be trying to contain her rear end in a wedding dress. Says the caption: "When you think everyone's looking at your train but they're really looking at your caboose."
3. The Oprah Effect
It'd be easy to say that Blakely got lucky when talk show queen Oprah Winfrey listed Spanx among her Favorite Things in her annual audience gifting scream-a-thon, but that endorsement wasn't easy. Without any advertising spend, Blakely knew she had to target famous women who'd be open to talking about body image.
She sent gift baskets of her products to Winfrey's stylist and dresser of many years, Andre Walker, in the company's very early days (Blakely was still working full-time in fax machine sales). Winfrey, who'd chronicled weight gain and loss for years, felt comfortable and confident in Spanx. The endorsement proved huge for the young company; a thumbs up from Oprah is enough to validate a product in the eyes of the media, and in some cases, with buyers for department stores.
"Oprah made it okay to talk about whether your bra fits, and that shapewear is the fastest 10 minute fix you'll ever find," said Noah Wrubel, CEO of online lingerie retailer BareNecessities.com, who has stocked Spanx for over a decade. "And Sara was right there, ready."
It wasn't until 2003 that Spanx became known for its Hollywood fans, with celebrities singing praises for the slimming panties underneath unforgiving Oscar gowns. The first A-list endorsement came from sylph-like Gwyneth Paltrow, who in a red carpet interview, claimed Spanx helped her post-baby body look better.
"The floodgates just opened," said Blakely. "It was Oprah and Brooke Shields and Julia Roberts and Kate Winslet."
Since then, getting Spanx into the hands of its movie star wearers is a priority. Having Gwyneth and co mention the shapers on an E! interview is worth far more than any paid advertising, as far as Blakely and Goldman are concerned.
"We've sent Spanx to everybody on the planet," said Goldman. "We always had PR and grassroots marketing at the forefront of what we did. It was getting the word out any way we could: speaking engagements, sampling. With our diffusion line Assets, we went to the Country Music Awards and handed it out. We knew if we could get women to put it on they become true believers."
A full-time team of four at Spanx's Atlanta HQ works to make sure high-profile fans like curvy reality star Kim Kardashian and celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe have enough of each product to get through the week. "We've got to get Ms Winfrey her Spanx," said Maggie Adams Klein, head of the comms team. They also liaise with the wardrobe department for TV shows like 30 Rock (Tina Fey is a professed Spanx wearer) and Gossip Girl. Their promotional efforts came full circle last fall: Spanx started helping the costumer on an upcoming Gwyneth Paltrow film.
4. Sara, the ultimate brand enhancement.
As Spanx's inventor and its early face in the foyers of department stores and on QVC, Blakely is, in her own words, "the DNA" of the company. Her personality is infused in Spanx's marketing and branding. And since that first Oprah show, she's been recognized: fans greet her in airports and department stores. They flash her, showing off their Spanx, and high-five her. Being young, energetic and beautiful never hurt either when it comes to shifting a product without spending a penny.
"Sara is Spanx, and Sara is Spanx," Wrubel said. "Her presence really resonates."
